Obama to nominate Judge Merrick Garland to Supreme Court

Congressional sources have been informed by the White House that President Obama will nominate Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. The nomination sets the stage for a dramatic political fight with Senate Republicans who have vowed to block any replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Garland, 63, the chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has been on short lists before. An appointee of President Bill Clinton, Garland is a graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School. As a Justice Department lawyer, he supervised the investigations in the Unabomber case as well as the Oklahoma City bombing.